


The Cliff Incident (and a Few More Stories For Context)

by Olithegreat



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Ennoshita and Daichi are absolutely done, Gen, Kiyoko is very helpful, Nishinoya Yuu & Tanaka Ryuunosuke are Bros, Nishinoya Yuu/Tanaka Ryuunosuke if you REALLY SQUINT, Rated Teen and up because of Tobio-chan's little potty mouth, Tanaka and Noya are too much, Tanaka and Noya's Origin Story, team picnic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 08:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24468139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Olithegreat/pseuds/Olithegreat
Summary: Tanaka and Noya, the inseparable "bro duo" weren't always that way.  At a typical team picnic, the Karasuno first years learn the truth.
Relationships: Nishinoya Yuu & Tanaka Ryuunosuke
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	The Cliff Incident (and a Few More Stories For Context)

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of Viria's (the one on Tumblr's) headcanon about Tanaka and Noya initially hating each other. I liked the idea so much that I just hand to write a fic.
> 
> *Agressively ignores how similar this is to Taka and Mondo from Danganronpa*

It was at a team picnic that Suga began to talk about what was known to Karasuno’s second and third years as “the cliff thing.”  
Tanaka and Noya had set up a spot near a ledge that was high up enough to either kill or injure anyone who fell off. It was just those two over there because the only person who wanted to sit next to the pair--Hinata--wasn’t allowed near it for fear of him accidentally jumping off.  
“It’s weird,” Suga was saying to Daichi and Asahi. The three of them were sitting at a picnic table. “Last time we were here was last year, when Tanaka tried to kill Noya.”  
“Hey!” Came Tanaka’s shouts as the skinhead jumped up. “I did not try to kill him! It was an accident!”  
“You did back him off of it, though,” Daichi added. “If you hadn’t grabbed him, he would’ve died.”  
“Yeah, so technically I saved him,” Tanaka argued.  
“Plus,” Noya chimed in, calmer than Tanaka, though not by much, “Ryuu and I were different back then. You can’t hold him to it.”  
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Tsukishima commented, as uninterested in the conversation as one man could get, “but they can absolutely hold Tanaka to it.”  
“I’ve always hated you,” Tanaka cried, his voice a childish whimper.  
“Right,” the blonde replied, taking a bite of his food.  
Tanaka and Noya had a back and forth with the third years for about another minute before Hinata couldn’t take it anymore.  
“What are you guys talking about?” He cried, jumping ten feet into the air. Everyone turned to him.  
“That’s right,” Ennoshita said, “the first years weren’t there for the cliff thing.”  
“Yeah! I wanna know!” Hinata cried out, and all of the first years except for Tsukishima nodded.  
Suga turned to Daichi. “We have a lot of time,” he said, “might as well, right?”  
Daichi nodded. “It was at this exact place, about this time of year….” he began.

. . .

Daichi recalled the experience pretty well. He was sitting at a picnic bench with his fellow second years and their captain, Kurokawa. Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita were sitting on a blanket under the shade of a tree while the other third years were on a blanket just a short distance away from the path that they had come from.  
Tanaka and Noya, meanwhile, were right by the ledge, glaring at each other.  
Most of the team had gotten used to their constant bickering and usually elected to ignore it, but Asahi was still very unsettled by it. Which is why, when they began yelling at each other about something or other, most likely Kiyoko or the other boy’s hair (or lack thereof) and how dumb it looked, Asahi had his eyes glued on them, rubbing his hands together anxiously. Suga and Daichi had also learned to ignore that; they had learned that there was no way to calm Asahi down. After Asahi had accidentally say “hafing mwe,” he almost refused to talk for the week following.  
Thankfully, Asahi was paying attention, because, after slapping Daichi’s arm for the fifth time, Daichi finally looked where the long-haired player was pointing--right at Tanaka and Noya.  
It seemed that their fight had escalated to the point where they were both standing, Tanaka’s back facing everyone else and Noya facing Tanaka. The bald one was slowly stepping forward, causing the shorter one to have to step backwards, too engrossed in whatever they were arguing about to notice his surroundings.  
Noya was just one step away from falling off of the cliff by the time anyone but Asahi noticed.  
“Tanaka!” Ennoshita cried out, quickly standing up, but it was too late.  
The tip of the ledge fell out from beneath Noya’s right foot, and he began to fall. Anyone with fast enough reflexes began to sprint forward on instinct as their libero began to fall to his imminent doom. Their hearts were racing, and there was that one tiny moment of terror--of "Nishinoya Yuu is going to die."  
Everyone stopped when they heard a slapping noise--the sound of skin hitting skin.  
Noya's right side was hanging off of the cliff, and the small boy was looking down, to where he likely would’ve fallen if Tanaka wasn’t gripping his left arm. Noya’s left foot was still on the ground, though it was positioned at an angle. After a short moment of sighing and catching their breaths, Tanaka quickly pulled Noya up onto solid ground.  
The moment his safety was insured, Noya wrenched his arm from Tanaka’s grasp, shooting him a glare. Tanaka returned it. The two walked away from the cliff, and Noya went to sit with the second years--most likely because he wanted to sit with Asahi. Tanaka sat with the other three first years, and Ennoshita, after sitting down, his breath shaking slightly, offered him a meat bun. Tanaka accepted it, though he withered at Ennoshita’s authoritative stare.  
“You scared me,” Asahi breathed out, unable to give Noya a scolding look like Ennoshita had done for Tanaka. Noya’s face fell anyway.  
“Sorry,” he muttered, staring down at his hands. “I didn’t mean for it to go that far.”  
While the libero did sound genuinely sorry, there was no doubt that he blamed most of it on Tanaka. Asahi, unable to be any firmer than that, sighed.  
Everyone elected to ignore the incident for the rest of the day, mostly because the two involved would quickly change the subject if it ever came to that.  
The then-second years remember hearing their captain mutter “this is becoming a problem,” as they walked back to the bus.

. . .

“That’s about it,” Daichi finished off blandly, just to look over at a bunch of confused first years. Even Tsukishima had a hint of confusion on his face.  
“What did you mean when you were talking about how you were used to their fighting?” Hinata asked in one breath.  
“He means they fought a lot, dumbass,” Kageyama shot back, never missing an opportunity to prove his superiority over his “lifelong rival.”  
“I knew that!” Hinata called out, and if it had been any other person, it would’ve sounded believable, but from Hinata, no one was to be sure. “It’s just….”  
“Hard to believe they fought all the time?” Daichi finished for him. “Yeah, it’s weird to look at those two now and think that they used to hate each other.”  
Now all the attention was on the two in question, who were avoiding everyone’s gazes.  
“Um,” Yamaguchi began, “could you tell us about that?” He asked the pair. They both glared at him, and the pinch server retreated behind Tsukishima, who didn’t move from where he was sitting.  
“Cut it out, you two!” Daichi scolded before turning back to the first years. “I could probably tell you about that, since those two aren’t budging.”  
The first years (except for Tsukishima, of course,) all nodded furiously, and Daichi cleared his throat.  
“It began during the 3-on-3 match that we typically hold at the beginning of the year for new applicants.”

. . .

The first years had been put up against each other with the addition of Daichi on one of the teams to make it a real 3-on-3. Noya and Tanaka were put on separate teams, and they both showed promise and skill that would be useful to their team.  
They, however, didn’t seem to see that in each other.  
After Noya’s team--Narita, Kinoshita, and himself--won, the third years began to discuss what they thought about the new students. They were a couple of sentences into their conversation when Tanaka and Noya began to get loud enough for anyone within a 20 mile radius to hear.  
“Oh, so you couldn’t handle my spikes, huh?” Tanaka said, leaning over to get in Noya’s face as much as possible.  
“Oh, I could handle them just fine,” Noya replied in the most snobbish voice he could muster, “but it looks like you couldn’t handle when I received them.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
“Oh, nothing,” Noya muttered just loud enough for literally everyone in the gym to hear, looking off to the side, “just that you always gave me this really creepy stare whenever I took a point from you.”  
“I did not!”  
Noya, who was leaning back, suddenly stood ramrod straight, causing the other to stumble backward to avoid being headbutted.  
“Did too!”  
“Did not!”  
“Did too!”  
Everyone watched the back and forth. They all had separate reactions. People like Daichi, Ennoshita, Suga, and looked about ready to yell louder than the two of them. Asahi was shaking, trying to get as far away from the fight as possible. The other third years, Kinoshita, and Narita watched almost curiously, as if wanting to see when or how it ended.  
“Cut it out, you two!” Kurokawa shouted, and both boys immediately stopped talking, taking a couple of steps away from each other. They still gave each other death glares whenever possible. Kurokawa sighed, fixing the pair with a disappointed look resembling that of a disappointed father’s look. “It’s the first time you two have been in the gym together for a club activity and you’re already fighting,” he remarked with a sigh. “You better be glad that you’re exceptional players or I’d have you kicked out already.”

. . .

The story was interrupted with a snicker that came from no other than Tsukishima.  
“Hey!” Hinata cried out. “What are you interrupting for?”  
“Oh, nothing,” the middle blocker remarked sarcastically. “It’s just that this reminds me of another troublesome pair….”  
“Shut up!” Hinata called out as Yamaguchi smirked. Kageyama huffed.  
“You know, that reminds me,” Suga cut in, a finger pressed to his chin, “Tanaka and Noya did almost knock off the principal’s toupee one time, right?”  
Daichi’s eyes lit up at the memory. “That’s right!”  
The first years didn’t even have to ask as Daichi began another story. Tsukishima, seeing an opportunity to make fun of the “Demon Duo,” listened in, too.

. . .

Tanaka and Noya were walking to class together for the sole purpose of glaring at each other. They constantly bumped into people’s shoulders, but they paid no mind to that. The only thing they were focused on was who was going to win their “intimidation contest.”  
The skinhead, however, became distracted when he noticed a lost looking girl, who was reading the classroom numbers and then looking down at a piece of paper. Being the closet-nice-person he was, Tanaka decided to help out.  
“Hey,” he called out to her, waving his hand as he approached. It took a second, but the girl saw him.  
And promptly ran away crying.  
Tanaka dropped his hand, his expression full of despair as Noya began to laugh.  
“See?” The libero called out to him. Tanaka whipped around, his face now contorted into anger. “I told you you looked creepy!”  
Tanaka growled as Noya’s laughs became increasingly loud.  
“You have no right to talk!” He cried, his face becoming red. “You look like a child!”  
Noya's laughs stopped short at that statement, and his expression changed to match Tanaka’s.  
As their arguing became louder, the vice principal walked up behind them, ready to tell them off, perhaps manage to bring the volleyball team into it. But when he got close enough, Tanaka swiped his hand backwards in a large gesture, and it just brushed the top of the vice principal’s “hair,” nearly unseating it.  
Both Noya and Tanaka froze, their eyes wide and their mouths pressed shut.  
“Detention, both of you,” the vice principal said after “subtly” fixing his toupee. “For blocking the hallway.”  
The pair didn’t look at each other for the rest of the day, up until their detention.

. . .

“I don’t really know what happened during that detention,” Daichi said, ending the story there, “but the strangest thing was the next morning.”

. . .

Everyone except for Tanaka and Noya were warming up, setting up the net, or idly chatting. The two troublesome first years were nowhere to be seen.  
“They got detention?” Suga was saying to Daichi, who had a disappointed look on his face.  
“Well, that’s better than what I thought,” Asahi said, tapping his foot. “I thought they had killed each other.”  
Suga giggled. “I mean, I guess it’s not that unlikely, huh?”  
Suddenly, laughter could be heard from outside of the gym, and Ennoshita let out a sigh.  
“They’re making fun of each other again, aren’t they?”  
Nobody had to ask who he was talking about.  
The gym doors burst open and the Karasuno volleyball club was met with the most surprising sight by far.  
Tanaka and Noya were standing next to each other, faces tinged pink, smiling widely and laughing in a friendly way.  
“So that’s why you have a buzzcut?” Noya asked in between laughs, his voice bubbly.  
“Yep,” Tanaka replied, his voice the same, “though I think it’s better this way.”  
The libero jumped up. “Definitely! You look super cool!”  
Tanaka placed his hands on his cheeks, feigning embarrassment. “Aww, thanks!”  
“Uh, guys?” Daichi asked, looking just as shocked as everyone else. “Are you okay?”  
“Okay?” Noya asked, his eyes wide. “I’m fantastic! Never been better!” His new friend, Tanaka, nodded enthusiastically.  
“But what about yesterday?” Asahi asked. Noya strolled up to him, waving his hand dismissively.  
“Asahi, Asahi, Asahi,” the libero put a hand on his shoulder, which required a tiny bit of reaching, “the past is the past. We shan’t talk about what shan’t be talked about.”  
“Ah,” Tanaka agreed, “wise words, Nishinoya. Let us forget the dark time and focus on the bright future ahead of us.”

. . .

“And then it just….ended,” Daichi concluded. “I guess something happened during that detention. They’ve absolutely refused to say.”  
“Like we said,” Tanaka cut in, “it’s in the past.”  
Hinata, jumping up and down, gave the pair his best puppy eyes. “Please? Pretty please?”  
They both looked away from the orange haired first year.  
“Absolutely not,” Tanaka replied, setting his jaw.  
There was a brief silence before a familiar voice broke it.  
“I’ll….give you both a pat on the shoulder if you tell.”  
Everyone looked over at the path leading away from their picnic spot and saw Kiyoko and Yachi, who were both holding bags of food. Kiyoko was smiling, sure that she had won over the two.  
“Sorry we’re late,” she continued, turning to the rest of the players. “There was a really long line. It’s probably because of the heat.”  
She set the bags down and everyone looked inside at the popsicles. Everyone grabbed one except for the libero and the spiker, who were deep in thought.  
“Well,” Tanaka finally announced. “I guess it can’t hurt if Kiyoko wants to hear it.”  
Everyone, even Tsukishima, focused their attention on the two as they began to tell the story.  
“It was during a day where we were supposed to be in practice, but we were in detention instead.” Noya began.

. . .

“This is all your fault,” Tanaka hissed at Noya, wary of the sleeping teacher who was supposed to be watching them.  
“Really?” The libero replied a bit too loudly. He glanced at the teacher, who was still asleep, before lowering his voice. “You’re the one who almost hit the principal.”  
“Yeah, well you started the fight!”  
“I didn’t,” Noya said, his face turning neutral, “I just laughed at something funny, and that just happened to be you.”  
They both got into some anger-induced staring contest when Tanaka’s phone suddenly rang. He picked up as fast as possible as to not wake the teacher up.  
“Hello?” He said, his voice slightly louder than his whisper. “Oh, hi sis.”  
There was a pause.  
“Oh, yeah. I got detention.” Pause. “So what if I did?” Pause. “Just get a snack or something, I dunno. I’m gonna be in here for another half an hour.”  
Noya very slowly crept up behind Tanaka, who was too distracted to notice. He got as close to the phone as possible without actually touching the skinhead. He could hear the voice on the other side of the call.  
“Alright then, Ryuu, I’ll be back to pick you up!” The person, Tanaka’s sister, said. Noya noticed how pretty her voice sounded.  
“Alright,” Tanaka said, hanging up immediately after.  
“Ryuu, huh?” Noya teased. Tanaka whipped around, covering his mouth to avoid making any shouts.  
“Yeah, so what?” Tanaka said after settling himself again. His face was pink.  
Noya laughed quietly. “Nothing. So, about your sister; is she as pretty as she sounds?”  
Tanaka gasped. “Why would I tell you? Plus, she’s 20, and way out of your league.”  
“Out of my league, huh?” Noya cracked a smile. “So she is pretty?”  
“No, I just meant that any girl would be out of your league.”  
Noya pouted, crossing his arms. “You’ve never said anything nice about me,” he said, his nose upturned. “Why not? I’m a pretty cool guy.”  
“You’ve never complimented me.” Tanaka argued, pointing at the other accusingly.  
Noya closed his eyes, nodding. Tanaka watched him furrow his brows making a low “hm” noise as he did so.  
“Aha!” He shouted suddenly, his eyes snapping open. “How about you compliment me, and then I’ll compliment you!”  
Tanaka pursed his lips. “Why?”  
“Well, I don’t know about you,” Noya explained as he hoisted himself on top of a desk, “but I don’t get complimented enough. This’ll be a prime opportunity!”  
Tanaka considered this before nodding. “Fine, but you’re going first so that I don’t look stupid.”  
Noya nodded, and the two shook hands.  
“Alright,” Noya said, clearing his throat as if making a serious declaration, “you’re really strong.”  
Though he didn’t verbally respond, the spiker’s eyes lit up at the compliment.  
“Well then,” Tanaka said, somehow a lot more willing to compliment the libero, “you’re like, really good at receiving and passing.”  
Noya's response was almost identical to Tanaka’s.  
“Thanks, man!” He almost shouted. “All the practice is actually how I got these bruises!” Noya held up his arms, and Tanaka could see bruises scattered in various places, mostly on his elbows and on a specific spot where the ball hit most. Tanaka’s eyes went wide as Noya giggled.  
“They’re so cool!” Tanaka whisper-shouted. “You’re so cool!”  
Noya waved his hand dismissively, putting his arms back down. “It’s nothing, really. I bet you put just as much practice into your spikes.”  
Tanaka mimicked Noya’s hand waving. “Aww, it’s nothing.”  
They continued to talk excitedly about how cool they were when Noya changed the subject.  
“Can I ask something?”  
“Sure,” Tanaka said, not at all bothered with the sudden change in conversation. “What’s up?”  
“Why did you give yourself a buzzcut?”  
“Oh, well,” Tanaka closed his eyes, trying to remember. “I think it was last year, when--”  
He was suddenly cut off by a loud knock at the door, which startled the teacher awake. He rubbed his eyes and looked over at the clock.  
“You two are free to go,” he muttered sleepily, laying his head back down on the desk.  
The pair, now friends, walked over to the door together and ran into a blond girl whose face closely resembled Tanaka’s.  
“Ryuu!” She called out excitedly, wrapping her arms around her little brother. “I missed you!”  
“I was only gone for about two hours extra,” Tanaka complained, attempting to push away.  
“So this is your sister?” Noya asked with stars in his eyes. The girl turned her attention to him.  
“Yep!” She said, pointing at herself with her thumb. “I’m Saeko Tanaka!”  
“Nishinoya Yuu!” Noya replied excitedly. “You can call me Noya.”  
“Nice to meet you, Noya!”  
After Noya excitedly spoke to Saeko, they all said goodbye to each other, and Tanaka was dragged off by his sister.  
“I’ll tell you about my hair tomorrow!” Tanaka shouted out at the last second.  
“Okay!” Noya shouted back.

. . .

“So,” Tsukishima butted in, “all it took were a couple of compliments and then you two were best friends just like that?”  
“Hey!” Tanaka and Noya shouted in unison.  
“Still,” the tall blond continued, ignoring them, “I’m glad it happened. I couldn’t possibly handle two idiot duos.”  
It was Hinata’s and Kageyama’s turns to shout at Tsukishima as Yamaguchi snickered.  
Amidst the chaos, Kiyoko approached the libero and the spiker and placed her hands firmly on their shoulders. It remained there for about a second before she turned around to face the rest of the team.  
“We’re leaving in about five minutes,” she said as Tanaka and Noya attempted not to scream.  
Everyone began to delve into random chatter for the remaining five minutes of the picnic as they cleaned up, all of them full and about ready to go home and relax.  
“Hey, Yamamoto lent me a video game the other day,” Tanaka was saying. “Wanna come over and play?”  
Noya smiled. “Yeah, sounds good!”  
As they walked home, Kageyama and Hinata sprinted farther than the rest, shortly followed by Tanaka and Noya, who were excitedly talking about something or other.  
“You know,” Daichi remarked to Suga, “I was there for it, and it’s still really hard to believe that those two were anything short of inseparable.”  
Suga smiled as the two, far ahead, scrambled into the bus. “Yeah.”


End file.
